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Report of a Committee of the National Academy of Sciences on 
the Condition and Preservation of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, j^. 



New York, April 24, igoj. 
Honorable John Hay, 

Secretary 0/ State. 

Dear Sir: In response to a communication received from you, a committee 
was appointed by President Agassiz of the National Academy of Sciences to 
confer with you with regard to the present condition of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and to make such recommendations as should seem desirable to insure 
the preservation of this precious instrument. The committee was also requested to 
send their report to you directly in order to avoid the delay which might result from 
reporting in the usual manner to the officers of the Academy. The members of the 
committee are John S. Billings, Ira Remsen, and Charles F. Chandler. 

After conferring with you, the committee was given an opportunity to make a 
careful examination of the instrument with the assistance of Mr. A. H. Allen, 
Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, and with the assistance of Dr. Wilbur M. 
Gray of the Army Medical Museum. 

The instrument has suffered very seriously from the very harsh treatment to 
which it was exposed in the earlier years of the Republic. Folding and rolling have 
creased and broken the parchment. The wet press-copying operation, to which it 
was exposed about 1820, for the purpose of producing a facsimile copy, removed a 
large portion of the ink. Subsequent exposure to the action of light for more 
than thirty years, while the instrument was placed on exhibition, has resulted in 
the fading of the ink, particularly in the signatures. The present method of 
caring for the instrument seems to be the best that can be susfcrested. 

The committee is pleased to find that no evidence of mould or other disinte- 
grating agents can be discovered upon the parchment by careful microscopic exami- 
nation; nor any evidence that disintegration is now in progress. 

The investigation has been facilitated by the photograph that was taken in 1883, 
two years after the previous examination by a committee of the Academy, and we 
would suggest the desirability of taking another photograph of about the same 
size at the present time, and from time to time in the future as an aid to future 
investigations. 



The committee does not consider it wise to apply any chemicals with a view 
to restoring the original color of the ink, because such application could be but par- 
tially successful, as a considerable percentage of the original ink was removed in 
making the copy about 1820, and also because such application might result in 
serious discoloration of the parchment; nor does the committee consider it neces- 
sary or advisable to apply any solution, such as collodion, paraffin, etc., with a 
view to strengthening the parchment or making it moisture proof. 

The committee is of opinion that the present method of protecting the instru- 
ment should be continued; that it should be kept in the dark and as dry as possible, 
and never placed on exhibition. 

Charles F. Chandler, 

Chairman of the Coinmittee. 

The Secretary of State has directed that the recommendations of the committee 
as set forth in the foregoing report be observed. 

The Department of State has no copies of the Declaration of Independence in 
any form for distribution. 

Department of State, 

Washinsiton, D. C. 



